Brazilian guitar legend and Grammy winning musician/composer/songwriter Heitor Pereira received his first nomination from the News and Documentary Emmys in the Music & Sound category for his score to Sonic Sea, a moving documentary that examines noise pollution in the ocean and how it affects sea life. The Grammy-winning Brazilian-born guitarist (Simply Red) turned Hollywood film composer (all the Despicable Me films, The Smurfs, the upcoming Pitch Perfect 3) created a deeply poignant, heartfelt and imaginative score for Sonic Sea.
Organic, electronic, and musical sounds were incorporated into the documentary score. The sound of the shipyard, the engines themselves created or joined the rhythm section. Long drone sounds were used as if being played by members of the orchestra. The score needed to reflect the diverse aspects of the film. The percussion evolved by incorporating the shipyard sounds and sonar. Horn sounds were manipulated to be used as chords in the score. These elements were used to reflect an aggressive musical element. These elements reflected negative aspects and the conflict affecting the whales brought on by man.
Conversely, for beautiful moments such as the whales migrating from Alaska to Mexico, clarinets were played in a pitch along with the feedback of guitars to mimic the sounds of the whales. Accitionally, the sounds of whales and other creatures harmoniously living together along with a full orchestra deliver an epic dynamic to reflect the greatness and expansiveness of the underwater world of these creatures; this was to immerse the viewer both visually and aurally.
On another musical note, near the end of the documentary, a fisherman who came from generations of fishermen and was passing his profession to his children, saw his way of life disappearing because the underwater exploration was driving away his source of living. The music needed to reflect that, so a lullaby was created. The lullaby is as if the fisherman is singing to his grandchildren; the ocean will be okay. It’s a lullaby to show the problems but also the solutions. Sonic Sea addresses this issue with so much information critical to the ocean’s survival, the audience needed a lullaby—a melody of hope.
